From Publishers Weekly
Hard-boiled crime fans will enjoy the latest entry in Vachss's long-running Burke series (
Down Here, etc.). The renegade New York City PI, who operates by an idiosyncratic private moral code, has been lying low since being shot in the face. But a longtime fixer, Charlie, soon sees past Burke's attempt to pose as his own brother and arranges a meeting with a prospective client, who wants to find a missing woman. What should have been a routine setup turns deadly when professional hit men gun down the client as he's attempting to retrieve Burke's retainer from his car. Burke, afraid that the gunmen may come after him and the data-filled CD the dead man gave him, uses his own network of allies and contacts to learn more about the missing woman, Beryl Preston, whom he happens to have saved from a pimp 20 years earlier. Despite a familiar plot, the sharp-edged prose and cutting insights into New York's underbelly elevate this above many similar crime novels.
(Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From AudioFile
Renegade Private Investigator Burke finally gets a customer; then, shortly after he leaves, the man is killed. Despite no possibility of financial gain, Burke has a personal interest in finding the man's missing wife and solving his murder. Matching wits against another of New York City's seedier inhabitants, Burke must use all his resources to figure out who's behind the murder. David Joe Wirth's voice is not quite edgy enough for the story's tone and setting, but, at the same time, if his voice were any more tense, it would feel artificial. Instead, he invokes a quiet, solemn tone that can, at times, make Burke feel more akin to Buddha than to Dirty Harry. L.E. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
